Church Belle
by TheVulpineHero1
Summary: A Clerith drabble collection, started as a challenge. Themes taken from the names of the first 15 Clerith fics listed as of 4/11/2010. Author credit will be given at the end. Rating will be T at highest.
1. Forgive And Forget

Holy hell. That's what he's going to catch.

He lies there, quite comfortable, crushing all the flowers in the bed. She looks on, listening to every unconscious groan.

He's got a nice face, she thinks. It reminds her of someone's, but she can't think whose. She remembers the clothes, though. Like _his._

She places a hand on his forehead. She can feel the sticky sweat of battle on him.

He starts to stir. His voice is battle-hard and rusty. Somehow, she pities him.

She decides to forgive him for dropping in. She wonders whether the flowers will be as kind.


	2. The Gullwings' Gaea Journey

Foul smog and precocious little girls mark out Lower Junon. The fish struggle; even the birds collapse with the toxins. One, a grizzled seagull, hops over to her, wary but curious.

She wonders, silently, where this little warrior has been. What has he seen with those glassy eyes? What wounds does he hide beneath his feathers?

He loses interest, and flies away into the sky- near the high voltage tower that the mercenary is climbing.

She sighs. Her efforts seem wasted. Junon is dying. The Planet is dying. And what he saw, with those hollow Mako eyes, remains a mystery.


	3. Three Simple Words

The world floats in, out. It seems like her heart's on her sleeve, beating gently like as dusk's breath.

He's above her, somewhere. He's blurry, but then again, he always is. Blurred, on the line between himself and someone else. She wishes he'd just let her _know_.

His breath is bated. He makes quick motions with his hands, but they're somehow clumsier than they should be. Maybe he's forgotten his training in SOLDIER?

She groans. She can feel the pain, now. The wound. He says something, the words she wants to hear but can't let herself.

"Aerith, don't die."


	4. My One And Only

She's used to the idea of 'true love'. Growing up in the slums, true love was the Holy Grail- the thing everyone was looking for, but no one could find. Instead, they got something broken, like themselves.

She knocks on his door. It's gaudy, Halloween themed. He shouldn't mind- he wanted a date, anyway.

Her 'true love', and this person, this Cloud. Are they the same, or different? She really doesn't know any more. Maybe she's a sinner for doing this, a traitor against true love. Suddenly, she's nervous.

Is he her one and only, or just her second chance?


	5. Last Sunset

Midgar's shadow falls over them, the disk shimmering like a halo in silhouette.

"Aerith. You okay?" he asks.

Tifa paces off to the side, her energy barely subdued. She's at the limits of her strength. The flight from Midgar, the loss of Sector Seven, and her comrades...In the face of Tifa's problems, hers are trivial.

"Yes. I was just wondering about the flowers. I get the feeling I won't see them again," she smiles wanly. He doesn't catch the sadness like he should. But, he's tired too.

It's her last Midgar sunset. Tomorrow, she walks towards the sun.


	6. 13 Nights Of Halloween

The desert wind scours his face for any kind of weakness.. It all seems like a nightmare, like Halloween. Sephiroth's return, their battle with Jenova on the Cargo Ship, and now this- Barret's friend, back from the dead with a vendetta in tow.

"A dead town underneath...Guess the Golden Saucer really was all fake glitter," he says sourly.

"I don't know, Cloud. I think there's room in the world for a place like that- where people can just pretend, for a little while, that everything's fine," she replies.

He shrugs. But someday soon, he'll understand- all too well.


	7. Cloud's Despair

Silence. Embrace it, break it, try to escape it. Nothing works. Not since _she _died.

Yuffie cracks jokes, Barret shouts, Cid grumbles. Cait Sith dances, Vincent muses, Red howls.

"Cloud. Please, talk."

He looks at her, straight into her eyes. They're not the eyes he wants to see. He turns his gaze back to the floor. Still mute.

She sighs. Part of her, small and dark, blames Aerith, for leaving them like this. For leaving her to pick up his pieces. It isn't fair. It isn't _right_.

But they won't break. She knows. After all, there's work to do.


	8. The Reunion

_Reunion._

The word is a tolling bell that echoes through the dark crevices of Nibelheim. Repeated endlessly on the lips of twisted shadows, it fills every space, every heart.

He's pale. His hometown never burned, they tell him. This isn't his home.

Gently, she wraps his hand in hers. Even through both of their gloves, his fingers are cold. He doesn't even realise she's touching him.

"_Reunion_."

The word drops from spellbound lips. She peers into his mako eyes, and sees a darkness that wasn't there before.

His home runs ahead of them, silver hair whirling with every step.


	9. Since I've Been Loving You

She couldn't remember _when_ it started. All she knew is how it began. Joking became flirting, flirting became affection, affection became something _more_. Fireworks and blurs of gold on cable cars just sealed the deal. She loved him. Just as she'd loved Zack, years before.

Slowly, she was changing. She could feel weakness and desires building up under the surface, like a volcano about to explode.

That was why she went alone.

To pray to Holy, and die at the altar, she needed resolve. But, the more she loved him and his world, the less she wanted to leave it.


	10. Her Smile

It's true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone. You don't miss the air until you can't breathe, and he knows better than anyone because sometimes, he still struggles to draw in that next breath.

He misses her. All he can do is hurl himself into battle, and throw the grief away. Now isn't the time for grief. They have to finish what she started.

But even if he does, she won't come back from those crystal waters.

He can't get her back. But the memory of her smile is as precious to him as liquid gold.


	11. Streamline

If only life weren't so..._complicated._

She's aware that the complications sometimes add much needed flavour. Without them, she'd never have had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Cloud in a dress. (She didn't think he'd go that _far _for her.)

But everything's going all...geometric. Her and Cloud and Zack are in a triangle, and he, she, Tifa and Yuffie are making for a pretty good square.

Not to mention the half of his heart he's already mortgaged to Sephiroth. (Which throws 'Cloud in a dress' in a different light.)

If she could only streamline the complexity, she could understand her feelings.


	12. Be All My Sins Remembered

He'd like to think she left the world with a smile.

Of course, things don't always go as he'd like. She hadn't been smiling as he stood there, thrashing against his own limbs, begging his arms not to pull the sword down for that final slice.

And she hadn't been smiling when he backed away, and lost the chance to save her life.

Mile after mile, he rides further into the desert. Out here, his skeleton, ridden with geostigma, will be bleached pure white by the sun.

But the stain of his sins will always be etched into his bones.


	13. A Change Of Pace

The sun warms her muscles, tugging out the knots like she's made of string. She sips her drink, feels the fire in the back of her throat. She almost forgot that taste.

Everyone's happier in Costa Del Sol. Even Cloud's managing to lighten up, although he seems to get bad memories when he sees the muscle men. All he says is 'Honeybee Inn' when she asks.

She sips her drink again. They still have a villain to catch. But for now, it's not so bad to be in her bikini. He _did_ say he liked a girl with a tan.


	14. Cloud's Heart

Nobody knows where Cloud's heart lies at times like these. Not even her.

The planets are whizzing around them. One of them's hardly bigger than an apple, tempting her to reach out and take a bite. Bugenhagen won't like it, though.

But she can't see the reflection in Cloud's mako eyes. He doesn't see the planets, the beauty; all he sees is the blackness, and the emptiness of space.

The Planet's life drains into Bugenhagen's sleeve, and she feels her heart tighten. It shouldn't happen.

But Cloud lets it, his eyes wide shut. Perhaps only she can save the stars.


	15. Corazon Of Mine, Heart Of Mine

If she could look in a mirror, one that showed the truth and stripped away the false smiles, she'd have seen the picture of fear.

On one side would be her heart, tucked warm and safe in her breast. On the other, it would be open for the whole world, beating and pulsing like a strobe light, as if it knew her future.

The crystal mirror of the lake keeps its secrets.

All she knows is that she wants to see him, once more, before she spills her heart on the altar. She prays to Holy itself that he'll come.


	16. Closing And Credits

A/N: So, here's my closing and author credits. As in the description, may I remind everyone that I basically stole other people's titles to form my prompts list, which are credited as follows:

1 Forgive and Forget (evilestguyever)

2 The Gullwings' Gaea Journey (Gryffindor-RikkuChan)

3 Three Simple Words (evilestguyever)

4 My One And Only (Chibylove)

5 Last Sunset (smilingxqueen)

6 13 Nights of Halloween (Jacqueline Auditore)

7 Cloud's Despair (flowergirl7)

8 The Reunion (flowergirl7)

9 Since I've Been Loving You (Cloudy Flower)

10 Her Smile (Cloudy Flower)

11 Streamline (xxDarkAssassinxx)

12 Be All My Sins Remembered (Alantie Mistaniu)

13 A Change Of Pace (drivenBYaBEATINGheart)

14 Cloud's Heart (LadyTeefStrife)

15 Corazon of Mine, Heart of Mine (The rEsistance Cero Doble)

Okay. Now, for various snarky remarks: for the two people who did "Cloud's Despair" and "Cloud's Heart", try harder next time. I mean, they're nice titles, but intuition much? The Gullwings' Gaea Journey should be in the crossover section anyway, but I couldn't skip out on it because I already skipped out on every fic written in Spanish. Spanish is a lovely language, but I cannot speak, read or write it, so I felt justified in skipping all Spanish fics; however, I didn't feel justified to pick and choose from what was left.

Be All My Sins Remembered: Whoever made this title, I love you. Honestly, it was a godsend. Ditto Streamline. I am very thankful for those two titles, which are fairly unconventional compared to most things on this list.

Corazon of Mine, Heart of Mine: As much as I tried to avoid it, the I couldn't completely skip all the spanish. Corazon means 'heart', or thereabouts, so I assume there's some sort of reason why you would repeat the same thing twice but with a bit of spanish the first time. Not my business.

13 Nights Of Halloween: It was hard to figure out what to _do_ with this. Nice title, but not the best prompt. (Of course, I understand that you guys don't make these titles to be obliging when I want to rob them for drabble titles. This is perfectly fine.)

Other than that, nothing to say. Challenge completed, and my first time writing Clerith. Or, Aerith, whilst alive. I originally started this collection because I was having trouble finding drabble collections in the Clerith pairing; plenty of drabbles, and quite a few abandoned 100 Themes Challenges, but very few good, completed drabble _collections_. Add one more to that number. And, if anyone reading this would like to add another one to that, I can only encourage it.


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